Diodes for voltage reduction...what am I doing wrong?

[ADCX_Rob]

…adds an individual breaker (approriately sized for the wire size) in the wiring from every transformer output terminal that would provide protection against the worst case scenario. Yes or no?

Maybe. The fault current I have measured is small, under 4-5 amps at a few volts difference, but quickly jumps to 20-30 amps at 6-7 volts difference in throttle settings. This was with a ZW.

If Big Al ever wants to test this with a ZW, he can slowly roll a Polar Express passenger car(or the whole train) from one block set at 6 volts through to another block set at 18 volts and report back.

[lionelsoni]

With respect to fire safety, I would say yes.

But Rob’s mention of passenger cars reminds me that the wiring between the trucks of some lighted cars may be too light to carry across the gap the fault current that the circuit breakers will allow. I recall seeing a picture posted on this forum years ago that showed such a wire buried in melted plastic.

[ADCX_Rob]

…I recall seeing a picture posted on this forum years ago that showed such a wire buried in melted plastic.

This Post was the one.